44 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
“The high value and estimation in which the Loyal settler is 
deservedly held has been placed in the most conspicuous point of view 
by the contrast it has formed with the American Interloper, industri- 
ously undermining the fidelity of his neighbors by disseminating Demo- 
cracy, affording intelligence to the enemy and frequently concluding 
his career by going over to him, while those who have been most dis- 
tinguished by their loyalty & courage are very generally the descendants 
of the military settlers who sought an asylum in Upper Canada after 
the American Rebellion, for there is little emigration from Great Britain 
to these colonies. These loyal settlers view with jealousy and alarm 
the rapid influx in the Province of those men of democratic principles, 
who subverted the happy constitution under which they livedin America 
and drove them to abandon their paternal dwellings and seek a refuge 
in the Forests of Canada, again threatening to disturb that peaceful 
competency which they have with the sweat of their brow wrung from 
the wilderness. 
“The increasing influence of the American settlers in this Province, 
if suffered to prevail, must in its inevitable consequences alienate it 
from the Mother Country & betray it with its resources to the encroach- 
ing power of the United States, nor has the Government at Washington 
endeavored to conceal that upon the aid of the strong American Factor 
already fostered in the bosom of the Colony, she looked pbs 
for an easy & certain subjugation of the Province. 
“The Independent Settler who can choose his fencer SA never 
consent to become a Borderer on critical positions, subjecting him to the 
risk & inconvenience inseparable to a state of hostility. These objec- 
tions have not the same weight in the decision of the American. A 
hollow pretence of Allegiance affords him certain protection on the one 
side, while his origin and known Secret principles screen him from all 
risks of insult or molestation on the other. This fact has been verified 
in the most glaring and unequivocal manner in the several predatory 
incursions of the Enemy, where the Inhabitants distinguished for their 
zeal and loyalty have been wantonly insulted, plundered and carried 
away prisoners, while the habitations of the disaffected were passed 
by unmolested, & in some instances the unworthy proprietors have 
been rewarded with the Plunder which the Enemy could not carry 
away”! 
Indictments for treason or treasonable practices were prepared 
by the acting attorney general against some fifty persons, most of whom, 
however, including the most notorious offenders, had already sought 
refuge in the enemy’s lines, and consequently were beyond reach of 

1 Baynes to Prevost, Montreal, 18th June, 1814. Can. Arch. C 621, p. 10. 

